Thank you for your thoroughness and clarity. It is possible I was overgeneralizing; I consider myself to be below average in overall social skills, but it is possible that the mere fact that I'm female more than compensates for that deficit. However, I will note that I and many people (including other women) I do know are quite willing to accept online social approaches from people of any gender, as long as there's something to talk about besides inane, content-free chatroom nonsense. (Examples: fan e-mails or IMs on creative works - both to and from me - have led to extended friendships, and I have a lot of friends of both genders from message boards.)